Antivirus vendor AVG Technologies has announced that it is making its Rescue CD utility available to all customers.

The CD is designed to recover PCs that are not longer able to boot up properly following malware infection or other disaster.

On the CD you get the following:

• Comprehensive administration toolkit
• System recovery from virus and spyware infections
• Suitable for recovering MS Windows and Linux operating systems (FAT32 and NTFS file systems)
• Ability to perform a clean boot from CD or USB stick
• Free support and service for paid license holders of any AVG product
• FAQ and Free Forum self-help support for AVG Free users

You can also get a download specific for USB flash drives.

Download here.

Over on Hardware 2.0 I've put up a poll asking readers which browser they think will be the first to fall at this year's Pwn2Own hacking contest.

The event is spread over three days.

Day 1:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 on Windows 7
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows 7
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows 7
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 2:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows Vista
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows Vista
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

Day 3:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP
• Mozilla Firefox 3 on Windows XP
• Google Chrome 4 on Windows XP
• Apple Safari 4 on MacOS X Snow Leopard

OK, want to know all about Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Series announcement at Mobile World Congress today? Check out these two posts over on Hardware 2.0:

Live Analysis: Microsoft Phone press conference, Mobile World Congress '10

Windows Phone 7 Series ... what we know, and what we don't

Enjoy!

OK, a lot of people are getting in touch with me over this issue, so I thought I'd pass this on ...

If you are having restart issues after installing update MS10-015 (which may or may not be malware related), Microsoft wants your help!

In our continuing investigation in to the restart issues related to MS10-015 that a limited number of customers are experiencing, we have determined that malware on the system can cause the behavior. We are not yet ruling out other potential causes at this time and are still investigating. Please review our blog post from yesterday for additional information.

One of the key components when investigating issues like this are obtaining memory dumps from computers experiencing the problem. In order to get the information we need to fully analyze the issue, some of our support engineers have actually driven to customer locations and picked up affected systems so we can get the needed crash data directly and help inform our investigation. For more information about memory dumps, please see: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/254649

Also, if your PC has been hosed by this (or any other update), remember that Microsoft is there to help you too!

This can be a difficult issue to solve once a computer is in an un-bootable state so we encourage customers who feel they have been impacted by this to contact our Customer Service and Support group by either going to https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com or by calling 1-866-PCSafety (1-866-727-2338). International customers can find local support contact numbers here: http://support.microsoft.com/common/international.aspx.

Look no further!